How did a California initiative requiring the labeling of genetically engineered food (Prop 37) get defeated in 2012 despite the state’s high level of food activism? How did a ban on the sale of large soft drinks in New York City fail the same year despite the link of such drinks to obesity? Welcome to the world of food “front groups” — fake grassroots groups, sometimes called “Astroturf,” created by Big Food to keep health and safety regulations from cutting into sales and profits.
According to SourceWatch, a classic front group is set up by a public relations agency to provide a populist, human face to an issue at the same time it refocuses the debate. To defeat Prop 37, for example, food giants like Monsanto and chemical companies set up the Coalition Against the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme which argued that food prices would go up under the proposition. It worked. To defeat Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed ban on large soft drinks, the American Beverage Association set up a “grassroots” group called New Yorkers for Beverage Choices to claim that freedom of choice was under attack which also worked. Needless to say “citizens” don’t have the $46 million that defeated Prop 37 or the millions the beverage industry “poured” into the pro-soft drink initiative, according to the New York Times.
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The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: How front groups posing as grassroots campaigns do the dirty work for Agribusiness
